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U.S. Army officials worked feverishlt over the past week topull St. John Properties into the fearful the project would come to a halt if Opus East filexd for bankruptcy protection before an arrangementg couldbe struck, compangy spokesman Gerard J. Wit said in a telephonse interview Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this done,” Wit “We’re going to get in and try to kick-startf this right away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significantr influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’zs Base Realignment and Closure expected to be completef by September 2011.
Abou 8,200 military jobs will be transferred to the in addition to as manyas 18,00o private contracting jobs from companies that do business with the incomingf military agencies. The selectedr St. John Properties to take over the Governmentf and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimor developer’s ability to move forward with new Bob Penn, program director with the Army Corps, said in a As in taking over the project, includingy (NYSE: OFC) and Manekin LLC. Opus East was awardedc rights to developthe government-owneed land under a lease with the Army in November 2007 and brokwe ground on its first buildingv in December of that year.
Since then, the compan became straddled with millionse of dollars in construction loans it has been unablweto refinance, and the company has not startesd any new construction at the project for more than a The deal was inked June 19 between Opus St. John Properties and the Army, Wit St. John and the Army Corps of Engineers issuerd statements Tuesday announcing the Witsaid St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosed amoungt of money for its development rightsat Aberdeen. In connectiom with the deal, St. John has hired Opus East projecft manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE project as its directord of defense andgovernmen business.
“Aberdeen Proving Ground is excitefd about moving the project forwardxwith St. John Properties,” Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a statement. “We considetr it a positive step to have theire experienced management team spearheadingthe build-our of this project.” As the to help it considerd options including bankruptcy. Its parent , has also sought bankruptcy protection for it’s Opus Southh subsidiary and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regional operation. Opus Corp. spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is stillp evaluating its options but has not made any decisionseabout bankruptcy.
The company was forcec to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen projecg because it has been unable to finance morethan $50 million in construction loans it took out to finance its projects. Most pressingf among those debtsis $35 milliom the developer spent to build a new headquarters for the National Oceanicd and Atmospheric Administration in Collegd Park, for which it has sued the federalp government to collect its wageas on that project, Hewett said. St.
John planz to break ground in the next two months on at leasft three new buildings at the Harfordr Countymilitary base, with commitmentsz from defense contractors for up to 300,000 squarw feet of office, researcb and development space, Wit said. Wit did not disclose the names of any ofthose tenants. Thoser buildings would be in additioj toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completed in Decemberf 2008 for defense contractor CACI. “We view this developmengt as the most significant commercial real estate opportunituy in the history ofour company,” St. John President Edwar d A. St. John said in a statement.
“Thisz is based on the amoungt of square footage that can eventually be developed as well as the importanyt work that will be completedby end-users that occupyt this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largesty property management firm inGreater Baltimore, with nearly 11 milliob square feet of commerciaol space in the region. But taking over the Aberdee project represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the deman d for government contracting spac e upuntil now.
Wit said the compang has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease property from the government such as at Opus East preliminarily received commitmentsw from firms seeking space atits 413-acre Government and Technolog y Enterprise business park but did not staryt any additional construction. The developer was unwillingb to divide any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted Wit said, preferring instead to construct buildings for a singls tenant. That’s created a pent-upo demand for companies seekingfrom 5,000 square feet to upward of 20,00o square feet, Wit said.
“For all the hoopla that BRAC has there’s really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said. “If you don’f have the place to park those ifyou don’t have the buildings to put them in, theree was going to be a real logistical
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